Lhasa with Mansarovar Lake and Kailash Kora
Discover the Spiritual Heart of Tibet
Lhasa, Mansarovar, and the Sacred Kailash Kora
The Lhasa with Mansarovar Lake and Kailash Kora is a 13-day trek starting and finishing in Lhasa. The high point is 6,638 m. A normal day is 6 to 7 hours of walking. We run it as a private trip on your own dates, or as a small group departure.
The route runs Shigatse, Saga, Mansarovar Lake, Darchen and Kailash Kora. Sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bon. The kora is 52 km, walked clockwise by Buddhists and Hindus and anticlockwise by Bon practitioners.
Graded moderate. Nothing on the route is technical, but the altitude is real and it is what decides who finishes. The kora crosses the Dolma La at 5,630 m, the highest point on any of our trips, and you will already have spent days above 4,500 m. Fitness and acclimatisation both matter.
Best time to go. May to September only. The Saga Dawa festival in May or June is the most significant time to walk the kora.
Permits and getting there. Chinese group visa, Tibet Travel Permit, Alien's Travel Permit and the Kailash area permit. Applications take at least 25 days and passports must be scanned early. Overland from Lhasa or via Gyirong and Saga. Long driving days on the Tibetan plateau at over 4,500 m.
Where you sleep. Guesthouses and dormitories at Darchen and on the kora. Facilities are basic and shared.
Why book with us. Trekking Team is a family company in Gongabu, Kathmandu, running trips since 1991 under TAAN licence 1106. About ten thousand people have travelled with us and we hold more than 630 TripAdvisor reviews. Every departure runs with a government-licensed guide, permits arranged before you arrive, insured and equipped staff, and a fixed price. If the dates or the route do not suit you, write to us and we will rebuild the itinerary around what you want.
Trip Summary
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Best Season
Trip Outline
- Day 1Arrival in Lhasa
- Day 2Sightseeing in Lhasa
- Day 3Sightseeing in Lhasa
- Day 4Lhasa to Shigatse
- Day 5Shigatse to Saga
- Day 6Saga to Mansarovar Lake
- Day 7Mansarovar to Darchen
- Day 8Kailash Kora
- Day 9Kailash Kora
- Day 10Complete Kailash Kora, return to Saga
- Day 11Saga to Shigatse
- Day 12Shigatse to Lhasa
- Day 13Final Departure
Included
- Chinese group visa, Tibet Travel Permit, Alien’s Travel Permit and the Kailash area permit
- Licensed Tibetan guide and a Nepali tour leader for the group
- Tourist vehicle with a permitted driver, and a support truck carrying supplies on the plateau
- Hotel and guesthouse accommodation throughout, twin or multi share
- Basic teahouse accommodation at Dirapuk and Zutulpuk during the three-day kora, with bedding and blankets provided
- Breakfast daily at the hotels, outside the kora
- Support vehicle shadowing the group on the first and third days of the kora
- A pulse oximeter and a comprehensive first aid kit carried by the guide
- All government taxes and company service charges
Not Included
- International flights and the Kathmandu to Lhasa air ticket unless listed
- All lunches and dinners. Kailash programmes run on a bed and breakfast basis
- All meals during the three-day kora, including breakfast. You pay the teahouses directly at Dirapuk and Zutulpuk
- Travel insurance covering trekking to 5,700 m and evacuation from western Tibet. Compulsory
- Supplementary oxygen, which is available as an optional extra
- Horse and personal porter for the kora, arranged at Darchen at extra cost. The porter and yak weight limit is 5 kg per person
- Extra nights in Darchen if you do not complete the kora and return early, which are chargeable
- Drinks, laundry and items of a personal nature
- Costs arising from a border closure, permit refusal, illness or an early return
- Emergency evacuation, which your insurance must cover
- Tips for the guide, driver and kitchen crew
- Anything not listed under what is included
Get started on your journey
Detailed itinerary
Arrival in Lhasa
Arrival day in Lhasa is an altitude day and we treat it as one. The city sits at 3,656 m and you have arrived there by aircraft, which means no acclimatisation at all. Our Tibetan guide meets you at Gonggar airport and it is about an hour into the city.
Check in, then do almost nothing. Drink plenty of water, skip alcohol entirely, eat lightly and go to bed early. Mild headache and broken sleep on the first night are normal and usually gone by the second. Your guide will check on you in the evening and again at breakfast.
If you feel well, a short slow walk in the neighbourhood is better than lying down all afternoon, but keep it flat and keep it brief.
Altitude: 3,650 m | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Sightseeing in Lhasa
Explore the Potala Palace, Norbulingka Palace (the summer palace of the Dalai Lama), and Tibet Traditional Hospital. Learn about Tibetan medicine and the rich history of the region.
The Potala Palace rises thirteen storeys above Lhasa and was the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas from the seventeenth century. Inside are the golden funerary stupas of eight Dalai Lamas, the fifth's alone covered in more than three tonnes of gold, along with chapels, murals and the meditation cells of the earliest kings. Visits are on a timed ticket with a strict one-hour limit inside, and the climb up is at 3,656 m, so take it slowly.
Altitude: 3,650 m | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Sightseeing in Lhasa
Visit the famous Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery, and the spiritual Jokhang Temple, then stroll through the bustling Barkhor Bazaar.
The Jokhang is the most sacred temple in Tibetan Buddhism, founded in the seventh century to house the Jowo Rinpoche, a statue of the Buddha as a twelve-year-old brought to Tibet by the Chinese princess Wencheng. Pilgrims prostrate full-length on the flagstones outside from before dawn. The interior is dark, thick with butter lamp smoke, and unlike anywhere else.
The Barkhor is the pilgrim circuit around the Jokhang and the old heart of Lhasa: a clockwise kora walked by thousands of pilgrims a day, lined with stalls selling prayer wheels, turquoise, incense and yak butter. Walking it once with the flow of people tells you more about Tibet than any museum.
Sera Monastery, founded in 1419, is one of the three great Gelugpa university monasteries of Lhasa. The reason to go in the afternoon is the debating courtyard, where monks challenge each other on points of doctrine with a formalised hand clap that punctuates each question. It runs most weekday afternoons and it is genuinely gripping even without the language.
Drepung was once the largest monastery in the world, housing around ten thousand monks, and it climbs the hillside west of Lhasa like a small white city. The Ganden Podrang within it was the seat of the Dalai Lamas before the Potala was built.
Altitude: 3,650 m | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Lhasa to Shigatse
Enjoy a scenic drive to Shigatse, Tibet’s second-largest city. Admire the vast Tibetan plateau and its dramatic mountain landscapes.
Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.
Altitude: 3,900 m | Travel: 8 to 9 hours | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Shigatse to Saga
A long drive through rugged terrain, crossing several high passes before reaching the town of Saga.
Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.
Altitude: 4,600 m | Travel: 9 to 10 hours | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Saga to Mansarovar Lake
Drive to the sacred Mansarovar Lake, where pilgrims take ritual baths and perform prayers.
Lake Mansarovar at 4,590 m is one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world and sacred in four religions. Pilgrims bathe in it and perform puja on the shore, with Kailash to the north and the Gurla Mandhata massif to the south. Nights here are cold and the accommodation is simple guesthouse or tented camp.
Altitude: 4,556 m | Travel: 6 to 7 hours | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Mansarovar to Darchen
After a morning at Mansarovar Lake, drive to Darchen, the starting point of the Kailash Kora.
Lake Mansarovar at 4,590 m is one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world and sacred in four religions. Pilgrims bathe in it and perform puja on the shore, with Kailash to the north and the Gurla Mandhata massif to the south. Nights here are cold and the accommodation is simple guesthouse or tented camp.
Darchen at 4,670 m is the small settlement at the foot of Kailash where the kora begins and ends. It is a functional place of guesthouses, supply shops and pilgrims preparing, rather than somewhere you go for its own sake.
Altitude: 4,700 m | Travel: 1 hours | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Kailash Kora
Begin the 3-day trek around the holy Mount Kailash. The trek will take you through some of the most spiritual and remote terrain on earth.
Altitude: 6,638 m | Overnight: Tea House | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Kailash Kora
Explore some more of the most spiritual and remote terrain on earth.
Altitude: 6,638 m | Overnight: Tea House | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Complete Kailash Kora, return to Saga
Finish the sacred Kora trek and return to Saga, reflecting on your spiritual journey.
Altitude: 4,600 m | Travel: 7 to 10 hours | Overnight: 4600 | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Saga to Shigatse
Retrace your steps back to Shigatse with another full day of driving.
Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.
Altitude: 3,900 m | Travel: 8 to 9 hours | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Shigatse to Lhasa
Return to Lhasa and spend the evening relaxing in the spiritual heart of Tibet.
Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.
Altitude: 3,650 m | Travel: 4 to 5 hours | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Final Departure
Transfer to the airport about three hours before your international flight. If you have a late departure we will hold a day room or arrange a final few hours in the city rather than leave you sitting in the terminal.
If you would rather not go home yet, this is the easy point to extend: a few days in Pokhara, a wildlife stay in Chitwan or Bardiya, a short Bhutan add-on, or a rest week somewhere quiet. Tell us before you travel and we will build it in at cost rather than as a late upgrade.
Altitude: 3,650 m | Overnight: Hotel | Meals: Breakfast
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Getting ready
Two to three months of preparation makes the difference between enduring this trip and enjoying it. Walk hills, not treadmills. Build to a five or six hour day with a 7 kg pack, twice a week, and add a back-to-back weekend so your legs learn what consecutive days feel like. Stairs with a loaded pack are the best substitute if you live somewhere flat.
Break in your boots properly. More trips are ruined by new footwear than by altitude.
Altitude and acclimatisation
The high point on this trip is 6,638 m. The kora crosses the Dolma La at 5,630 m, the highest point on any of our trips, and you will already have spent days above 4,500 m. Fitness and acclimatisation both matter.
Rules we work to: gain no more than 400 to 500 m of sleeping altitude a day above 3,000 m, take a rest day roughly every 1,000 m, climb high and sleep low on those days, drink three to four litres daily, and skip alcohol and sleeping tablets above 3,500 m. Your guide carries a pulse oximeter and a first aid kit and records the group morning and evening.
Diamox (acetazolamide) is a legitimate aid, not a shortcut, and works best started 24 hours before you go high. Discuss it with your own doctor before you travel; we do not prescribe.
If anyone deteriorates, the answer is descent, immediately and without debate. Our guides have the authority to turn a client around and they use it.
Permits and paperwork
Chinese group visa, Tibet Travel Permit, Alien's Travel Permit and the Kailash area permit. Applications take at least 25 days and passports must be scanned early.
For Tibet you must send clear passport and visa scans at least 25 days before departure. The Chinese group visa is issued in Kathmandu and it is a physical document for the whole group, which is why late bookings are difficult and why you cannot join partway through.
Money, tipping and costs on the ground
Chinese yuan is the currency in Tibet. Foreign cards work poorly and Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate, so carry cash and change money in Lhasa.
Budget roughly USD 10 to 20 a day for drinks, snacks, hot showers, charging and wifi that are not in the price. Bottled water is best avoided for both cost and plastic reasons.
Tipping is customary and genuinely matters to the crew, but it is not compulsory and never demanded. As a guide to the guide: around USD 8 to 12 per day for your trekking guide and USD 6 to 8 for each porter, pooled by the group and handed over at the end.
Staying in touch
Limited to none outside Darchen.
What to pack
We send a full checklist when you book. The items people most often get wrong:
- Broken-in boots with ankle support, plus trainers or sandals for the evenings
- A four-season down sleeping bag rated to at least minus 10 C, and a down jacket. We lend both at no charge if you would rather not buy them
- Layers rather than bulk: thermal base, fleece, windproof shell, waterproof jacket and trousers
- Sun hat, warm hat, glove liners and warm gloves, and category 4 sunglasses. Snow glare at altitude is brutal
- A one-litre bottle plus a two-litre bladder, and a SteriPen or chlorine tablets so you can refill instead of buying plastic
- Personal first aid: blister plasters, ibuprofen, rehydration salts, antiseptic, any prescriptions in original packaging
- A 20,000 mAh power bank, headtorch with spare batteries, and a two-pin European plug adapter
Health and safety
No vaccinations are legally required for Tibet, but hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus are sensible and a rabies course is worth discussing if you are travelling for a long time. Check with a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly.
Drink treated water rather than bottled where you can, wash hands before every meal, and eat what is freshly cooked. Stomach upsets ruin more trekking days than altitude does.
Our guides carry a comprehensive first aid kit, a pulse oximeter and, on the higher routes, supplementary oxygen. We hold a 24-hour operations line in Kathmandu throughout your trip, and we run rescue coordination ourselves rather than handing it to a third party.
Responsible trekking
We pay porters above the TAAN minimum, insure every member of staff, cap load weights and provide boots, jackets and shelter at altitude. That is not a marketing line; it is the reason our crew come back season after season and some have been with the family for twenty years.
On the trail: carry your rubbish out, use refill points instead of plastic bottles, ask before photographing people, walk clockwise around mani walls and chortens, and give way to loaded yaks on the mountain side of the path, not the drop side.
Booking and cancellation
A deposit confirms your dates and the balance is due before departure. If your plans change we will move your booking to another date rather than treat it as a cancellation wherever the ground operators allow it.
Written quotes are fixed. We do not add fuel or permit surcharges after you have booked, and if a government fee rises between your booking and your departure we absorb it.
Questions before you commit are welcome and never rushed. Write to us with what you actually want and we will tell you plainly whether this trip is the right one, including when the answer is that a different route would suit you better.
Ready to start your journey?
Start planning your dream trip today. Enquire now for more information or customize this trip to tailor it to your needs and make it truly unforgettable.